New book: "Pals Around With Terrorists" - was ordered by Team McCain

[sabra]

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/07/pals_around_with_terrorists_palin_wasnt_rogue_after_all.php

"Pals Around With Terrorists": Palin Wasn't That Rogue, After All

In the mail this morning was an advanced copy of Dan Balz and Haynes Johnson's extremely well-reported history of the 2008 presidential campaign: The Battle for America is what the two veteran Posties have called it. The book will be published on August 4; Balz and Johnson will talk about it on Meet the Press on August 2. There are plenty of scoops, and I can't resisting sharing just one involving a critical phase of the campaign in early October of 2008.

Whose idea was it for Gov. Sarah Palin to attack Barack Obama as a guy who "pals around with terrorists?" Palin's camp has always insisted that the McCain high command endorsed the stratagem, while folks close to McCain have accused Palin of going "rogue" and pointed to the "pals around" attack as an example of how Palin simply could not be controlled. The idea that Palin was hard to manage as a candidate and ignored the advice and wishes of McCain's senior advisers is explicated in some detail by Todd Purdum.

But on the subject of linking Obama to ex-Weatherman Bill Ayers, it turns out that Palin hadn't gone rogue. Balz and Johnson answer this question pretty definitively. They've obtained an e-mail from campaign adviser Nicolle Wallace sent to Palin on the morning of October 4rd, with an attached New York Times article about Obama's relationship with Ayers.

Turns out that the McCain campaign was a week away from running an ad linking Obama to Ayers. The e-mail from Wallace, according to Balz and Johnson, reads as follows: "Governor and Team: rick , Steve and I suggest the following attack from the new york times. If you are comfortable, please deliver the attack as written. Please do not make any changes to the below without approval from steve or myself because precision is crucial in our ability to introduce this."

McCain HQ had suggested the following line: "This is not a man who sees American as you and I do -- as the greatest force for good in the world. This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country."

At the event, Palin said this:

"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America."

[Raschel]

1. It's not surprising that McCain is sleazy. And Palin was willing to be just as sleazy.

[tanyev]

9. I guess that's why he said she was his soulmate.

[blogslut]

2. Interesting

I'm not surprised that Johnny McSame's peeps came up with the mud to sling. Doesn't make Mrs. Governor Lady any less reprehensible, considering the relish with which she delivered the lines of her script.

[frylock]

3. Balz and Johnson..

not surprising to find a team like that working for an asshole like McTaint.

[Jane Austin]

4. Why do you think they were working for McCain? . . . . . . n/t

[WeDidIt]

5. McCain obviously got cold feet when the crowds starting calling for Obama's murder

So he pushes all the blame on Palin.

Both were fucking sleazy.

[EFerrari]

6. I never realized what a huge sleaze McBomb was until that campaign.

He did a good impression of a Senator.

[blm]

8. It was apparent in 2004 when he knuckled under for Bush and Rove.

.

[AlinPA]

7. I think that it was Lieberman who was behind that. He stood on stage with her and

smiled as people yelled "kill him".

[mitchum]

10. It's not as if that ignorant grifter knew about the Weathermen

of course, the McCain camp fed that to her

[JitterbugPerfume]

11. McCain has milked his status as a war hero until

I am sick of him and all others like him He uses it to be sleazy and dishonest ,and no one would dare say different for fear of being called unpatriotic.
Palin is his soulmate--that is for certain